Isabel McLaughlin
Isabel McLaughlin | |
---|---|
Ontario College of Art (1925-1927); Art Students' League, Toronto (1928); Scandinavian Academy, Paris (1929) | |
Awards | CM (1997); OOnt (1993) |
Isabel McLaughlin,
Biography
Born in Oshawa, Ontario, McLaughlin was the third of five daughters to Adelaide Mowbray McLaughlin and founder of the McLaughlin Motor Car Company and first president of General Motors Canada, Col. Robert Samuel McLaughlin. She studied watercolour painting with Louise Saint in Paris while learning French at the Sorbonne in Paris (1921-1924).[2]
From 1925 to 1927, she studied art at the
McLaughlin was recognized as a dedicated artist from early in her career.[6] As Fred Housser wrote in 1929, McLaughlin was "one of the boldest young women painters we have...Her compositions are intensely modern in feeling...characterized by...real power", together with originality of expression...."[8] She was an invited participant in the Group of Seven exhibition in 1931.[9] Her first solo show was at the Art Gallery of Toronto in 1933.[10] Her early work is described as having a sculptural simplicity of style.[2] She exhibited at Scott & Sons, Montreal with Sarah Robertson, and Heward (1934); at Malloney Galleries, Toronto, with Rody Kenny Courtice, Kathleen Daly, Housser and Paraskeva Clark (1936); and the Picture Loan Society, Toronto (1937).[10] Besides Heward, she formed a strong friendship with Housser and the two often went on painting excursions together and exhibited their work at Canadian Group of Painters shows, of which both were founding members in 1933.
Tree by McLaughlin, now in the collection of the
Selected public collections
McLaughlin's works are in many public collections such as the National Gallery of Canada,[12] the Robert McLaughlin Gallery[13] in Oshawa, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg[10] and the Art Gallery of Guelph,[14] Ontario.
Commissions
Among McLaughlin's public commissions was a mural for the children's reading room of the Oshawa Public Library in 1955.[2]
Memberships
McLaughlin served as the first woman president of the Canadian Group of Painters (1939-1945).[15] McLaughlin was also a member of the Ontario Society of Artists, as well as an executive member of the Heliconian Club in Toronto and its President (1940-1942).[16] She was also a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists (1942).[2]
Honours
McLaughlin was the recipient of the Order of Ontario in 1993 and the Order of Canada in 1997.[17]
Record sale prices
In the spring 2022 sale of auction Cowley Abbott, McLaughlin's Backyards, lot 74, oil on canvas, 25 x 26 ins ( 63.5 x 66 cms ), estimated at $15,000.00 - $20,000.00, realized a price of $40,800.00.[18]
Gifts to Oshawa and elsewhere
McLaughlin gave financial gifts to the
Before her death, she gave her archives to Queen's University.[21][22] Following her death, McLaughlin's remaining collection of art work was donated to the Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Isabel McLaughlin (1903–2002): Painter, Patron, Philanthropist was held at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, Ontario, in 2007, to celebrate the gift to the archives at Queen's University at Kingston.
Legacy
In 1948, Housser painted a watercolour depicting McLaughlin titled Isabel the Archaeologist, Cap Chat River.[3]: 69 McLaughlin also was the subject of an authorized portrait relief sculpture by Florence Wyle.[23] A mid-life portrait photograph was authorized by Reva Brooks in the 1950s.
In 1998, McLaughlin was one of the four artists in 4 Women Who Painted in the 1930s and 1940s, curated by Alicia Boutilier for the Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa.[2] In 2013, her role in supporting the Canadian Group of Painters was discussed in A Vital Force: Canadian Group of Painters curated by Boutilier for the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.[24] In 2016, the Art Gallery of Guelph included her work in the exhibition Dear Life, which traced the ways in which women have shaped the course of art across the 20th, and now the 21st, centuries.[14]
References
- ^ a b The Canadian Encyclopedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia, archived from the original on 16 August 2011, retrieved 17 October 2009
- ^ a b c d e f Boutilier, Alicia (1998). 4 Women Who Painted in the 1930s and 1940s. Ottawa: Carleton University Art Gallery. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0-921500-11-4.
- ^ Murray 1983, p. 12.
- ^ Murray 1983, pp. 12–13.
- ^ a b Ferrari, Prudence. "Prudence Heward: Painting at Home." (2001). In Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the Twentieth Century, S.A. Cook, L.R. McLean, and K. O'Rourke, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 131.
- ^ "By Women's Hand". www.nfb.ca. NFB. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
- ^ Housser, Fred (1929). "The Amateur Movement in Painting". Yearbook of the Arts in Canada 1928-1929. Toronto: Macmillan Co. pp. 89–90. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Murray 1983, pp. 125.
- ^ a b c A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
- ^ Murray 1983, pp. 15–21.
- ^ "Isabel McLaughlin". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ McLaughlin, Isabel. "Collection". rmg.minisisinc.com. Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Collection". artgalleryofguelph.ca. Art Gallery of Guelph. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, retrieved 17 October 2009
- ISBN 978-0-7735-3966-2.
- ^ Appointments to the Order of Canada, Donald George Jackson, C.M, retrieved 17 October 2009
- ^ "Isabel McLaughlin ar Cowley Abbott". cowleyabbott.ca. Cowley Abbott. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ^ Joan Murray (1987), Part 1 The Isabel McLaughlin Gift: Official Opening 1987, Robert McLaughlin Gallery
- ^ The Isabel McLaughlin Gift: Part 2. Oshawa: Robert McLaughlin Gallery. 1990.
- ^ "Isabel McLaughlin fonds". db-archives.library.queensu.ca. Queens U. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ 2007 News Exploring Techniques, Queen's University Archives, archived from the original on 20 June 2011, retrieved 17 October 2009
- ISBN 0-921500-68-8
- ^ Home, Heather (2013). "Sympathetic Kinship: Isabel McLaughlin". A Vital Force: The Canadian Group of Painters by Alicia Boutilier. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre. pp. 97–106. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
Bibliography
- Boutilier, Alicia (1998). 4 Women Who Painted in the 1930s and 1940s. Ottawa: Carleton University Art Gallery. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- Home, Heather (2013). "Sympathetic Kinship: Isabel McLaughlin". A Vital Force: The Canadian Group of Painters by Alicia Boutilier. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre. pp. 97–106. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- Home, Heather; Scala, Clelia. ""A Christmas Card to Isabel McLaughlin". Queens Quarterly, Vol. 113 (2006), pp. 560-571". www.queensu.ca. Queen`s University at Kingston. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.